Not a whole lot doing this week, but I do have two fairly minor releases that might spark your interest.

Dive got a copy of Josephine, the new one from Indiana’s Magnolia Electric Co.,and we’ve actually liked it a lot.

It’s pretty standard stuff, melodically driven folk rock wrapped mostly around break up songs. On paper it kind of sounds like every folk rock record ever made, and it kind of is in reality. But it’s well made, and the melodies are pretty great. Additionally the band plays tonight at Local 506. Show starts at 9 p.m. and costs $10.

On the subject of pretty standard but still satisfying folk rock, Wye Oak also has a new one called The Knot. Wye Oak is a duo from Baltimore that adds big distorted riffs to traditional folk rock

While it can occasionally become innocuous the duo does know its way around a melody, and every once in a while they stumble upon a pretty great lyric as well.

That’s about all I’ve got for this week. Sorry It couldn’t be more exciting.

Day late, but to make up for it I broken my rules and added on an extra two days of releases. It was worth it too.

A lot of people have been waiting for something new from the Left Coast’s Pac Div, and they finally got it this morning with Church League Champions. If you’re unfamiliar with Pac Div, the trio aren’t a far cry from the G-Funk era that brought the West fame over 15 years ago, but have a sound like a fusion of Pharcyde and The Cool Kids with a more hard edge delivery. Although there is artists on in the West like Nipsey Hussle who are bringing the gangster rap back, Pac Div is doing their own thing and doing it well.

ATL artist Donnis is back with the final edition of his Snack Pack series, a little goodie bag of two tracks to keep you interested. His other two packs of stacks have held this blogger off and this one’s done just the same. Especially since Donnis dropped a nice video off for one of the tracks, “Clermount Lounge.” Donnis is a versatile artist able to rap over a much inspired Atlanta beat or sample frenzy like he has on “Go Home.” If you like this, then wait for Donnis’ upcoming full project with 10Deep.

Mmm, the remix masters are back, this time with all original beats and verses. Cookin’ Soul teamed up with NahRight to bring this 12 track monster. There’s verses from Joell Ortiz, Mickey Factz, Crooked I, Skyzoo, Donny Goines, Stat Quo, AC and Rapper Big Pooh that showcase the beatmakers dexterity for accomadating so many different style of rapper. Needless to say, the production is on point on this one. Don’t sleep.

What’s up music lovers? This week, I’m recommending you check out two new interesting side projects.

It seems that Jack White’s creative energy can’t be contained to just one band. Make that two bands.

In addition to his still active White Stripes and Raconteurs projects he adds the Dead Weather, which sees its debuts this week with the LP Horehound. Comprised of White, shockingly on drums this time, along with The Kills’ Alison Mosshart and members of Queens of the Stone Age and The Greenhornes, this supergroup makes blues rock that’s even more down and dirty than the work of White’s other bands.

And if White’s half as good as a drummer as he is as a guitarist, then the combo with Mosshart’s blistering vocals should really be something.

The other recommendation I have is much different. Made up of the team of Rostam Batmanglij and Wes

The last night of the Club Is Open Festival was its only real disappointment. This is not because it was actually a bad show. Far from it. It’s just that it didn’t live up to the potential of its packed line-up. Chapel Hill’s Nathan Oliver felt tired as it played for a scant crowd opening the night. It was an early 8:30 start time, and with the lack of a real crowd, the normally frenetic band didn’t have the break-neck energy they usually possess. Slow-burning Greensboro experimental folk group Filthybird was an improvement. Playing with poise and feeling, the band’s crooning jams were excellent. The Future Kings Of Nowhere owned the night easily. Playing with no-holds-barred intensity, lead-singer Shayne O’Neil was powerful. He spat out his lines hard and mean, strumming with force on the guitar and making his exes feel his pain. American Aquarium played adequately, giving neither the best or worst set that I’ve seen from them. It started out well, as the band picked out the best songs from their new album and ripped through them with roaring E-Street arrangements. But the set was too long, and soon the tricks all started to sound the same.

So while it wasn’t bad, the last night of the festival couldn’t live up to the great nights that proceeded it. And for that reason it ended up feeling unsatisfying.

It would be poor form not to tell you that I would have thoroughly enjoyed Friday night’s addition to the Club Is Open even if had been the worst show. With Rat Jackson and Red Collar having good friends in them and many others spread around the room, I don’t think it would have been possible for me to have a bad time.

However, though I have let you know this bias, I still say that last night’s show was great. The Southern-fried Clash of A Rooster For The Masses opened things up well. The band was polished and professional, boasting a well refined rally call. Some things in this world are just meant for fun, and Rat Jackson is one of them. No pretension, no real grander musical ambition, just a bunch of well played rock ‘n’ roll about drinking and chasing women far out of your league. And Friday it was a raucous good time as festival organizers and “Big Rat Jackson Men” Steve Oliva and Rusty Sutton gave it their all.

For Raleigh’s Loners I can think of no better compliment than this: In a week where Japandroids, one of the hottest guitar-drum garage duos in the country, rolled through town, the Loners was still the best. Playing lightening fast riffs with a thunder that shook the audience to the core, it was a powerful set.

Red Collar brought it as they always do, ripping through middle aged angst with the riff-driven heartache. And the last song of its set showed what this festival is all about. Inviting its organizers (along with seemingly everyone else they knew) up on the stage for closer “Used Guitars,” the band’s final song became a fist-pumping celebration of how much these bands love playing together.

An energy dip from the euphoric highs of Wednesday’s Players blowout was inevitable. But Club Is Open night three didn’t hurt for hard rocking performances. On The Beach an amalgamation of members of I Was Totally Destroying It with Nagendra Jayanty, who played with IWTDI’s John Booker in the band StrunkenWhite, took the stage first. The band played with all the energy you’d expect from a band that doesn’t get to play often, laying down a solid set of post-punk. The Dry Heathens, always a force live, laid down one of the best sets I’ve seen from them. Loose and full of energy, the band roared as Daren Sink lived up to the band’s name, choking on romance and spitting out a vitriol of twisted and destroyed ideals. Taking the stage last, Aminal‘s hard-hitting, very Southern brand of rock was a big hit, erasing any question that the band could hold its own with a band as good as the Heathens. All in all, it was a fun night than ran smoothly. And while it might not have been as action packed as the night before, it was probably for the best. This way everyone will have energy for the two great nights to come.

<img style=”margin: 5px;” title=”potter_hbp2.jpg” src=”http://thehauntedforest.org/tix/images/potter_hbp2.jpg&#8221; alt=”” width=”186″ height=”287″ />- Director David Yates turned 2007’s “<a href=”http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373889/”>Order of the Phoenix</a>” into a dizzying dark adventure filled with great action and well-played exploration of Harry’s psyche. And thus far it’s the best in the franchise by far. Expect more of this exploration in “Half-Blood Prince” as the plot revolves around Dumbledore and Harry entering into captured memories.

– The greatness of the cast of Hogwarts teachers really can’t be overstated. Michael Gambon has been stellar ever since he stepped into the role of Dumbledore with the passing of the revered Richard Harris. Joining him this time around will be Jim Broadbent as the hilariously appearance-obsessed Professor Slughorn. Broadbent is probably best known to most of you as the money-grubbing Harold Ziggler in “Moulin Rouge,” so you know he can nail sleazy corruption as good as anyone. Plus with Alan Rickman and Maggie Smith returning as Professors Snape and McGonagall, the teaching will be an all-star smash.